Despite the fact that Syria tends not to be in the news any more, the extent of the conflict in the country continues to affect the lives of millions of people. Un Ponte Per, active since 2015 in the north-east of the country, works to support local partners and civil society, particularly in the health sector. This project gives continuity to an earlier intervention - 'Ishraf' - with which a major pilot initiative was launched with the aim of understanding and addressing the deep-rooted causes of weaknesses in the local health system and defining a capacity-building strategy for management by the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (AANES).
The intervention made it possible to provide an up-to-date snapshot of the health status of the health system in the area, which lacks recent data and studies due to the continuing conflict. An initial demographic analysis of the population and primary health needs was followed by a mapping of all the operational health structures, their potential and an assessment of the quality of services offered by both public medical centres and those supported by international NGOs, as well as an analysis of the actual training and refresher training capacities of local institutions for medical personnel.
At the same time, through the creation of coordination platforms, the various local actors working in the sector will be able to come together and exchange information on gaps and priorities for action. A multidisciplinary group will define the priority areas of an overall strategy to strengthen the health system in the medium term.
